Racehorse trainer's fire death accidental - inquest

A car fire which killed a racehorse trainer was likely started by "smoking material coming into contact with ignitable material" in the vehicle, an inquest has heard.

Hugh Mulryan was found dead in the driver's seat of his vehicle at the side of Marishes Lane near Malton, North Yorkshire, at about 04:30 BST on 16 June 2025.

Originally from Galway, Ireland, the 25-year-old had arrived in England two days earlier and was due to begin a job as an assistant trainer on the morning of his death.

In his conclusion, assistant coroner Jonathan Leach said the death had been accidental.

The inquest heard that Mulryan had met with his new employer, Adrian Keatley, on the evening of 15 June at the Spotted Cow pub in Malton.

In a report read to the hearing in Northallerton, Keatley said Mulryan had a packet of cigarettes with him.

He left the pub at approximately 22:00, Keatley said, having consumed "four or five pints of Guinness" but that he "did not appear to be drunk at all and was still quite with it".

He was due to return to the house where he was renting a spare room, owned by a friend of a friend, who received a text from him at 21:40 confirming he would secure a gate when he arrived.

At approximately 23:00, a man described as being "a white male in his 20s or 30s" was involved in a collision near the junction of the A169 and the A64, the inquest was told.

Two tourists from Liverpool said a dark-coloured VW Passat with Irish registration plates which had been "going against the flow of the traffic" on a roundabout collided with them.

The driver "seemed very calm overall, very chilled, maybe too chilled", a statement made by one of the tourists said.

The man then left the scene, going back in the direction he had come from, heading northbound on the A169.

Several witnesses said Mulryan drove a car matching the description.

After driving a relatively short distance from the collision, Leach said, Mulryan "appeared to have parked up".

An investigation by North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service station manager Anna Atkinson-Spragg found a fire began accidentally, likely by "smoking material coming into contact with ignitable material" such as fabric or foam on car seats.

It was not clear when the fire started, but by the time a fire crew from Malton arrived at the scene shortly after 04:30, the blaze was burning itself out, she said.

The fire had likely started in a footwell, but it was not possible to determine whether it was on the passenger side or driver's side due to damage to the vehicle, she told the court.

She said the location of the fire was "extremely rural" and that "from the main road you probably wouldn't have seen flame".

The medical cause of Mulryan's death was named as smoke inhalation in the pathologist's report.

A toxicology report said the level of alcohol in his blood was "just over the legal limit" for driving a motor vehicle in England and Wales.

In May, a race at Killarney Racecourse in County Kerry was named The Hugh Mulryan Memorial (Pro/Am) Flat Race.

Dozens of Mulryan's friends and family attended the meet, with a tribute written by his brother Michael shared by the racecourse.

"Horses and horse racing were Hugh's life," it said.

He had achieved a law degree, but "working with horses was where his heart kept him" and "he was successful in his endeavours at a rate that could never simply be described as luck".

"He could let his hair down and enjoy himself as good as anyone, but for the most part he was a serious man — serious about life, about horses, about looking after his body, and about keeping his mind open to learning something new every day."

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